Recruitment Scam Doesn’t Go As Planned After Guy Protects His Files

Job interviews are stressful enough as they are. Not only is your entire professional life being judged, but you also have to make sure to leave a positive impression, all the while you go through the many (many, many!) application stages. It’s exhausting.

And even though rejection is hardly ever a nice thing, there are better and worse ways to go about it. The least you can do is tell applicants that they didn’t pass, instead of ghosting them after multiple rounds of interviews. Redditor u/thegr8_alexander recently went viral on the Recruiter Hell subreddit after sharing how they pushed back at a company they were applying to after getting “radio silence.” All it took was disabling access to their take-home assignment.

You’ll find the full story, including how the internet reacted to it, below. Bored Panda has reached out to the author via Reddit for further comment about recruiter malpractices, and we’ll update the article once we hear back from them.

It’s an awful feeling to get positive feedback after multiple rounds of job interviews, only to end up getting ghosted

"Recruiter in an office setting discussing with a candidate after regretting ghosting rounds, documents on the desk.

Image credits: Drazen Zigic / Freepik (not the actual photo)

One job applicant, who went through 8 rounds of interviews, shared how they got back at a company that ghosted them

Text discussing a recruiter ghosting a candidate after multiple rounds, and the candidate disabling access to an assignment.

Text detailing an interview process with recruiter regrets after ghosting candidate's assignment.

Text message recounting recruiter regrets ghosting candidate, leading to restricted access to assignment.

Text image discussing controlled document access, related to recruiter regretting ghosting candidate after multiple rounds.

Text detailing a recruiter's regrets about ghosting a candidate, requesting document access.

Text highlighting a candidate's perspective on recruiter malpractices and refusal to share files after ghosting.

Text about recruiter regretting ghosting candidate after reassurances, leading to a call disconnection.

Recruiter regrets ghosting candidate, discusses restoring assignment access over a virtual message.

Text exchange showing a recruiter's regrets after ghosting a candidate, causing issues with accessing assignment files.

Recruiter on phone, looking concerned at a desk with a laptop, after ghosting a candidate during the hiring process.

Image credits: nensuria / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Text expressing candidate's response about ghosting after multiple interview rounds, highlighting recruiter regrets.

Text from a chat about a recruiter regretting ghosting a candidate after multiple rounds.

Image credits: thegr8_alexander

The way that job application processes are structured in this day and age can be frustrating for candidates who value their time

One of the most annoying and stressful parts of applying for a new job is the vast number of steps involved. It can really grate on your patience.

Especially if you don’t end up getting the feedback that you’d ideally want about your performance. If you end up ignored, it can feel like all of this has been a massive waste of time. And even saints have their limits.

Multiple rounds of interviews with different members of the company (from HR and team leads to upper managers and other important figures), assignments and personality tests that are meant to gauge the level of your skills, knowledge base, and compatibility with the company’s values—none of these things are bizarre in this day and age. Whether they should continue being the norm is another question entirely.

Unless you’re hiring someone for a C-suite position or a government job—high-stress positions with tons of responsibility and access to extremely sensitive data—you shouldn’t have seemingly endless rounds of interviews.

At some point, you have to make a decision. And if you want to be respectful to all the other awesome candidates who (barely) didn’t make the cut, get back in touch with them, give them some feedback, and propose staying in touch in the future.

You can never be 100% sure of your decision, no matter how many rounds you have and how talented you are. Until the person starts working at your company and finishes their probationary period, you can’t fully gauge their talents, soft skills, and potential.

Basic transparency, feedback, and proper communication should be commonplace

That being said, various ways of filtering out unsuitable candidates are a core part of recruitment. The basic idea is that you want the best possible person for the position.

You’re not only looking at their skillset but also how they come off in terms of their communication style. Interpersonal skills aren’t to be ignored, especially if the job requires interacting with clients or lots of teamwork.

So, you look for ways to see how much the job candidates match your expectations. There are no ‘perfect’ applicants; let’s not be naive perfectionists. But there are those who are great fits for the role and are ambitious and willing to grow.

Face-to-face job interviews can tell you a lot about a person’s character, confidence, and composure. Well, once you get past their pre-prepared answers to your questions, that is. Meanwhile, doing some sort of assignment or two isn’t unethical because you need a quick way to see whether the skills they claim to have are real or just empty boasting on their CV.

Usually, if you get an interview, it means that the company is interested in you and sees you as a strong candidate

During a previous interview with Bored Panda, one recruiting manager stressed the importance of strategic communication, diplomacy, and tailoring your message to the target audience during job interviews. Or, to put it in other words—it’s okay to fake your interest in the company and the job to get the position.

“Some people feel that they should not have to ‘fake’ interest in a job. But the reality is that employers want a workforce that cares about their work and over and over again, I see jobseekers who are able to communicate that passion land roles over those who don’t,” the recruiter told us earlier.

“If you landed an interview, you’re a strong candidate and they are excited to talk to you. You can anticipate a lot of the questions in advance (and use ChatGPT to brainstorm some) and practice your responses. It’s helpful to prepare a few examples that you can speak to,” she told us.

From her perspective, you could talk about a few projects you worked on that turned out well and one that didn’t, to show your range as a professional. “You can then pull on these examples when asked about how you led a team to achieve an outcome, a time you failed, how you organize projects, how you use data to achieve results, etc.”

What have your experiences with job interviews been like, dear Pandas? Have you ever been ghosted by recruiters? What’s the biggest number of interviews and assignments you’ve had to do for a single position? Have you ever lost patience due to bad recruitment practices? Feel free to share your experiences and frustrations in the comments.

The author of the viral post interacted with some of their readers in the comments, sharing a bit more context

Comment thread discussing recruiter ghosting after multiple interview rounds.

Reddit conversation about disabling Google Drive print options sparks interest.

Reddit users discuss recruiter regrets over ghosting a candidate after job rounds, focusing on assignment access issues.

Reddit comments about recruiter regrets ghosting candidate, discussing corporate interview practices and self-advocacy.

Reddit comments about a recruiter regretting ghosting a candidate and losing assignment access.

Comments discussing recruiter regrets ghosting candidate after multiple assignment rounds.

Here’s how some readers saw the entire situation with the iffy company

Comment about recruiter regrets ghosting a candidate after six interview rounds.

Comment expressing dissatisfaction about a recruiter ghosting a candidate after multiple rounds.

"Text response about recruiter regrets ghosting a candidate, highlighting frustration with access to an assignment.

Reddit comment stating a recruiter tried to use the candidate, discussed in a thread on recruiter ghosting regrets.

Reddit comment saying "I never do homework or tests" related to recruiter ghosting candidate story.

Reddit comment criticizing companies for unethical hiring practices like free labor, related to recruiter ghosting a candidate.

Unfortunately, many people have run into similar problems with recruiters. Here are their job application stories

Screenshot of a comment about a recruiter ghosting a candidate after multiple interview rounds.

Text post about recruiter regrets ghosting candidate after coding assignment request.

Text about recruiter ghosting candidate, regretting action, and seeking assignment access.

Poll Question

Total votes ·

Thanks! Check out the results:

Total votes ·

Newsletter

Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls

Subscribe

By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!